The new UFF-UCF leadership team would like to introduce ourselves to you.

We are an entirely new leadership team and look forward to the challenges ahead representing you and providing you with the support you have come to expect from your union. We will be serving you as the Executive Council of the union over the next two years.

We are:

Robert Cassanello, an associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Humanities and the President of UFF-UCF.

Beatriz Reyes-Foster, an associate professor of anthropology in the College of Sciences and the Vice President of UFF-UCF.

Michael Armato, the Sociology Undergraduate Director and lecturer in sociology in the College of Sciences and the Secretary of UFF-UCF.

Jonathan Beever, Director of the UCF Center for Ethics, Program Director of the Theoretical and Applied Ethics graduate certificate program, and assistant professor of ethics and digital culture in Philosophy and Texts & Technology in the College of Arts and Humanities, and the Treasurer of UFF-UCF.

The recent UFF-UCF election generated the highest turnout in our chapter’s history despite the COVID19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, and the fact that this election was entirely held by mail. We are humbled by the overwhelming support our team received from the UFF-UCF membership. The next two years will bring unprecedented challenges to our chapter. We will have to face the social and economic fallout of the COVID19 pandemic even as we endeavor to keep ourselves and those we care for safe. We also face the challenge of confronting our nation’s history of racial inequality, and we remember we are surrounded by land with a legacy of slavery, lynching, and segregation.

In these uncertain times, we are stronger when we are a collective voice. We are your leadership team. We are not above you, there is no one individual that is the union. We represent everyone in the bargaining unit and we will provide the leadership you have come to expect. We will safeguard the protections our Bargaining Team negotiated on our behalf and be a voice and advocate for the most vulnerable who alone cannot be heard.

Please provide us with feedback; this union is your organization and we are here to listen.

We thank you for the faith you have placed in us to rise to these challenges. We are eager to prove ourselves worthy of your trust and look forward to working with you to strengthen our union.

Robert Cassanello, President (he, him, his)

Beatriz Reyes-Foster, Vice President (she, her, ella)

Michael Armato, Secretary (he, him, his)

Jonathan Beever, Treasurer (he, him his)